


Long Con Meta

by Uniasus



Series: The Long Con [4]
Category: Christian Bible, Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Bible, Bible Quotes, Literature, Meta, This is essentially me comparing different translations, and using them to write good omens fic, either way, or would it be bible/GO crossover fic, we're learning!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 02:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21263915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: Looking at the translations of different bibles to plot Good Omens fics and because I'm slightly obsessive in my fact-finding wikipedia adventures.





	1. Why We Only Live 120 Years

**Author's Note:**

> This is highly linked to my headcanons for this series, The Long Con.

I should be working on the Good Omens fic that I looked up this Bible passage for, but then I spent an inundate amount of time being fascinated by different translations on [bible.com](www.bible.com). Keep in mind, all this work went mostly into a throwaway line in my fic.

The passage in question is Genesis 6:1-6.

###  **Common English Bible** – where I started with

> _1When the number of people started to increase throughout the fertile land, daughters were born to them. 2The divine beings saw how beautiful these human women were, so they married the ones they chose. 3The LORD said, “My breath will not remain in humans forever, because they are flesh. They will live one hundred twenty years.” 4In those days, giants lived on the earth and also afterward, when divine beings and human daughters had sexual relations and gave birth to children. These were the ancient heroes, famous men._

This implies a few things: that angels bedded human women and there may a connection there between God seeing that and then declaring “nah, I’m gonna put an expiration data on humans”. (that’s how paragraphs work, ya’ll) Probably because the kids were literal giants. Yikes.

(this also implies all angels were male. I wonder if the giants got to be too much a few angels switch *couch Michael cough*)

### Then for kicks, I wanted to see what the **Common English Version** said:

> _1-2 More and more people were born, until finally they spread all over the earth. Some of their daughters were so beautiful that supernatural beings came down and married the ones they wanted. 3Then the Lord said, “I won’t let my life-giving breath remain in anyone forever. No one will live for more than 120 years.”_
> 
> _4 The children of the supernatural beings who had married these women became famous heroes and warriors. They were called Nephilim and lived on the earth at that time and even later._

Again, daughters were just so tempting, they drew down angels! Who married them, cuz pre-marital sex is a sin, kids. Interesting thing here is my website gives me another possible translation for the second line in Genesis 6:3 “In fact, they will all be destroyed in about 100 years.” The hover text also informs me 100 years from this passage is, well, The Flood. God says this before the observation is made that people are bad. This could imply that God killed humans to get rid of the temptresses stealing away angels and also killing the kids (called Nephilim here, not giants) to keep them in Heaven and calling humans evil is just a front. After all, evil demons are still around. The real crime is not giving God your full attention.

I already knew Old Testament God was a bitch, but dang.

(Your wings were made to reflect God’s light, not starlight Crowley. I’m so sad you found that out the hard way T.T)

### So then I looked at the **Christian Standard Bible** (they were alphabetically on the site, okay?) and got this:

> _1When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves. 3And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men._

My mind instantly caught on line 3. Look how it changed between versions. The CEB says man’s mortal flesh just can’t handle God’s breath and thus the 120 year limit (though people have been living far, far longer according to The Book). The CEV has God declaring She won’t let Her breath linger that long in a person. And this, the CSB? Hot damn long life is a privilege we lost. Even worse, apparently the literal translation of “corrupt” is “flesh”, so we’re punished for being…the mortal creatures we were made to be? Buyer’s remorse is a thing. So too, apparently, is Creator’s remorse. Harsh, whoever translated this.

The Nephilim are also interesting here cuz 1) they either survive the flood or angel/human baby-making is still going on (which, okay, is a part of my learning that got more time in my fic that makes most angels gay cuz if you’re not procreating, you’re not creating kids that piss God off. Angels chaff at this - you must reproduce! no gay sex! but Fallen angels live. it. up. So queer. ) 2) my hover text gives me two other possible translations for this Hebrew word: giants, which we’ve already seen, and fallen ones.

At this point, I slipped over to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim)and learned a few things. One, “nefilim” is the actual Hebrew word. When we see “nephilim” in the text, it’s untranslated. It appears in three places in the Bible, this passage, Ezekiel 32:37, and Numbers 13:33. While a 1908 lexicon translates it to “giants”, many assume the root of the word is “fall”. “Giants” was the common ancient translation, while the “fall” root is a more modern interpretation. I can see why people stopped translating it. However! There are interesting interpretations my brain snagged on. One, thank you Robert Girdlestone, is “those that cause others to fall down”.

Kinda fits with an interpretation of God murdering the world because of demi-angel kids, eh? They caused the human race to be exterminated.

The second translation is “the ones falling upon their enemies”, thank you Aquila, which is interesting. “Giants” has been used as a translation in Numbers and Genesis. In some Ezekiel translations it’s connected with warriors: “…the warriors, the Nephilim of old, who descended to Sheol with their weapons”

I like the idea of them being warriors. The Team might be descendants…

So now I got curious, what the Jewish versions of this story say?

###  **The Complete Jewish Bible:**

> _1In time, when men began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3Adonai said, “My Spirit will not live in human beings forever, for they too are flesh; therefore their life span is to be 120 years.” 4The N’filim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the ancient heroes, men of renown._

No translation of Nephilim, and a not-so-vicious reason for the 120 year limit. Cool (but not cool at the same time).

(For those of you who may be wondering, I was raised Christian and went to church just last month! But I view myself as a deist, am fascinated by the transformation of stories, and even as a child believed there were human error/translation problems in the Bible. It might have been dictated by God, but someone took those words and edited them.)

Regardless, I’m picking and choosing what I want for this Good Omens fic and it’s not gonna be the happiest one. God truly is a b*tch in this, everything you think you know about fallen angels is wrong, and my Sunday school teacher is probably pulling her hair out somewhere.


	2. Babble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the Tower of Babel was and why God hated it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very much connected to the third fic in this series - The Glass Ceiling

Let’s begin with the basics, shall we?

###  **Was the Tower of Babel real?**

(For this fic series, the answer is yes, obviously)

Near as I can tell, the Tower either was, or inspired by, a real construction in Babylon. I’m leaning towards it actually being in Babylon because the original word used in the bible _Bab-ili_ (it’s Akkadian, btw and means “God’s Gate”) got different translations in different languages. Babylon in Greek, and well, Bilbel, or Babel, in Hebrew.

Did Crowley watch this thing get built? Eh, he probably checked in on its progress. However, this is really Beelzebub’s story, guys.

Anywho, in addition to the shared etymology, there actually was a real tower in real Babylon. [You can go see the ruins](https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/inside-etemenanki-real-life-tower-babel-0010025), if you want. And it shares a familiar history, so for the sake of this fanfic, you got it, this is my tower of Babel(on).

It used to be 91 meters high and made of clay bricks. Ancient blueprints exist and the dead Greek dude Herodotus left us a nice description. It had eight square tiers, the largest which was 201x201 meters. All those stairs were on the outside, not in, and there was a nice little resting place with seats and such halfway up. The very top tier is a temple, which is furnished with a couch and a gold table.

The Book of Jubilees, (the renegade, not quite as accepted Jewish Genesis that the Ethiopia Orthodox Church sees as canon) tells us it took 43 years to build.

Of course, in the Bible, the Tower isn’t actually finished, so Beelzebub won’t get to see the golden temple on top. But hey, 43 years is enough time to cozy up to a pretty, pretty angel by the name of Michael.

###  **So What Happened In Babili?**

Let's explore the early bits of Genesis 11, shall we?

### Common English Bible

> _1All people on the earth had one language and the same words. 2When they traveled east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3They said to each other, "Come, let’s make bricks and bake them hard." They used bricks for stones and asphalt for mortar. 4They said, "Come, let’s build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t be dispersed over all the earth."_
> 
> _5Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the humans built. 6And the LORD said, "There is now one people and they all have one language. This is what they have begun to do, and now all that they plan to do will be possible for them. 7Come, let’s go down and mix up their language there so they won’t understand each other’s language." 8Then the LORD dispersed them from there over all of the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9Therefore, it is named Babel, because there the LORD mixed up the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD dispersed them over all the earth._

Looking at this, a big reason people started building the Tower was they believed that being well-known would result in them not being scattered. They really just wanted to stay together, the poor folks.

And then God switches up their language…for lolz? And I guess what I'm nittpicking on is the language here. God is talking _to_ someone. There was a witness who did nothing to stop Her.

### Contemporary English Version

> _1At first everyone spoke the same language, 2but after some of them moved from the east and settled in Babylonia, 3-4they said:_
> 
> _Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world._
> 
> _5But when the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower, 6he said:_
> 
> _These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. 7Let's go down and confuse them! We'll make them speak different languages, and they won't be able to understand each other._
> 
> _8-9So the people had to stop building the city, because the Lord confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. That's how the city of Babel got its name._

Oh, we’re actual in Babylon in this translation, and yeah the people hubris shows up just a bit more. But the reason is the same – they want to use fame as a way to stay together. Who doesn't want to not be separate from loved ones?

And here come God, tossing aside familial bonds. But there is more a sense that God did this to prevent human progress. Humanity is a potential threat, God doesn’t want to share Her power, or, again, She's just bored and looking for an outlet.

### Christian Standard Bible

> _1The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. 2As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) 4And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”_
> 
> _5Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building. 6The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let’s go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8So from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9Therefore it is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth._

Goodness, this is becoming repetitive.

### Complete Jewish Bible

> _1(S: vii) The whole earth used the same language, the same words. 2It came about that as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shin‘ar and lived there. 3They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them in the fire.” So they had bricks for building-stone and clay for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”_
> 
> _5Adonai came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6Adonai said, “Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they’re starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them! 7Come, let’s go down and confuse their language, so that they won’t understand each other’s speech.” 8So from there Adonai scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9For this reason it is called Bavel [confusion] — because there Adonai confused the language of the whole earth, and from there Adonai scattered them all over the earth._

Honestly, every translation has God acting like a manager scare of Her employees' talents and thus blocking their ability to develop in the company. I'm so glad my manager is better than this.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on Tumblr a bit ago, but figured I'd collect all my little meta musings. As it was written before I published an actual story in The Long Con series, some of my hints of plot here aren't in the story. Doesn't mean they won't be in others.


End file.
